Lateral buckling analysis of thin-walled functionally graded open-section beams

Lateral buckling of thin-walled functionally graded (FG) open-section beams is studied, regarding mono-symmetric I- and channel-sections. The approach based on assumption that the volume fraction of particles varies through the wall thickness according to a power law. Governing buckling equations and a finite element method have been developed to formulate the problem. By means of Vlasov's assumption, the theory accounts for warping of cross-section and all the structural coupling coming from anisotropy of material. The lateral buckling parameter and mechanism are obtained for thin-walled FG beams under central point load, uniformly distributed load, and moment gradient with several types of material distributions. In order to show the validity of proposed theory, as a special case, a numerical comparison is carried out with available results in literature. Moreover, effects of load height, gradual law, end-moment ratio and ceramic skin-core-skin thickness on the buckling capacity of a thin-walled FG open-section beam are also included in the analysis.